April 14 Storms Bring Tornadoes, Large Hail and Damaging Winds

National Weather Service Assesses Damage from Storms on Friday, April 14, 2006.

Two teams from the National Weather Service investigated storm damage in
Central Indiana on Saturday.The first team surveyed Decatur and Rush counties while team two visited Hendricks, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, and
Carroll
Counties .

The damage that occurred in
Decatur
County in the town of
Burney was determined to be from an F1 tornado.An F1 on the Fujita scale has wind speeds from 73 – 112 mph.Damage was investigated in and around 850 W and 125 S and was approximately ¼ to ½ of a mile wide and ½ to ¾ of a mile long.One trailer was pushed off its foundation with a few surrounding trees uprooted around it.Another building had its roof blown off and the debris scattered and twisted among trees in the vicinity.To the South and East of these two buildings, on outbuilding was completely destroyed while the building adjacent to it had a two by four plank jammed into the garage door between the door and the roof. The roof on this building was lifted up and separated from the concrete block walls then set back down.In the back yard of the aforementioned building a red tractor had a two by four plank driven clear through the radiator of the tractor.Across the street from these buildings a few buildings sustained roof, shingle and chimney damage.

Further north along the Decatur and
Rush
County line, several homes in Williamstown sustained damage.The damage was determined to be from straight line winds.Winds were estimated at 70 to 80 mph based on the type of damage sustained and how the damage was situated.One home had most of its shingles torn off of the north side of the roof and a shed in the back yard was tipped over.Also, one trailer was pushed off its foundation while the adjacent trailer had its roof blown off and scattered across neighboring yards.These trailers also showed numerous small dents in the siding, evidence of wind driven hail damage.

A tornado touched down east of Americus in
Tippecanoe
County and lifted east of Colburn in
Carroll
County. The team estimates that the tornado was on the ground for about 3 miles and had a width of about 50 yards.The team rated this tornado an F0, which means wind speeds were less than 73 mph.The tornado produced tree and barn damage.The team also determined that straight line winds were the cause of tree and barn damage in Crawfordsville in Montgomery
County.Wind speeds were estimated at around 75 mph.

This picture of large hail on the east side of Indianapolis was taken by Spotters Eric & Kathy Wasson: